The Melvin Sipe Family

Courtship and Marriage

Melvin Lewis Sipe grew up in Neshannock Falls, PA. As a young man he was given the nickname “Ming”, which his sister Peg says came from a cartoon about a scrappy boy who was always getting into fights. When he was around 22 years old he was driving through Neshannock Falls when he came across Lois Lehman, who was walking to his house to visit his sister Peg. Melvin was on his way to visit Mary Palmer, and asked Lois to join him. Mary was not home, so Melvin and Lois spent the time together. Lois was only 15 at the time and Melvin was about to join the army, so she offered to write to him while he was away.

Melvin joined the 33^rd General Hospital division of the army and was trained as a nurse/medic at Walter Reed Hospital. He was stationed at both Fort Jackson and Fort Lee before being deployed oversees to North Africa and

Italy. As a medic, Melvin’s main duties included setting up the field hospitals and treating soldiers who were wounded in battle. He didn’t speak much of the

things he saw in the war when he returned, but family members recall that he never enjoyed the sound of fireworks on the 4^th of July because of the memories the explosions triggered, and he never wanted to return to medicine. A doctor offered to pay for his medical expenses if Melvin would train to become a doctor at the end of the war, but he declined the offer and returned to civilian life.

Lois began writing to Melvin on her sixteenth birthday and the two kept steady communication while he was gone. She did her own part for the war effort by working for Carnegie Ordinance in Farrell, PA that made jeeps for the war. Lois and her cousin, Jane Redmond, both worked there, although Lois only stayed there for about two weeks. Her job was in the Machine Shop, working a large planer that planed the pieces of steel that were used to make the tanks, while Jane worked on the Layout Floor.

When Melvin returned to Neshannock Falls, he knew that he wanted to marry Lois Lehman. She was now 19 years old, and on November 23, 1945 the couple was married. The ceremony was performed Reverend Lloyd at his parsonage in Leesburg. Melvin’s brother, Junior, and his wife Edith stood for them.

The First Years of Marriage

Melvin found work doing whatever he could when he returned home. He worked for Jim Elder at his sawmill earning $6 a day for a while. Later he found work at Johnson Bronze, but stayed there for only a week. He worked as a paddyman on the Pennsylvania Railroad in Pulaski, fixing the tracks and keeping the line in shape. But eventually he found a permanent job at Westinghouse as a Builder and Mounter. The Builder’s job is to build the steel up like a jigsaw puzzle to form a coil for the transformer. The Mounter hooked up all of the leads and mounting accessories that were needed in the transformer. He was a Group Leader who kept track of all of the time that it took to assemble a transformer on the production line.

The Sipes’ first house was a small house on Rt. 18 in Neshannock Township. Lois remembers it being drafty and cold, and that it was so cold that the linoleum would curl. She also recalls that Melvin was worried that the home was haunted because the boxes that he placed in the attic were on top of the trap door when he went to find them later. They didn’t stay in that house long, but moved to Pulaski. It was in Pulaski that the first two children, Marcia Evonne and Melvin Larry were born. After living in Pulaski for a few years, they purchased a small trailer and parked it at Melvin’s sister Dot’s house in West Middlesex and then at Lois’ mother’s house on Creek Road in Volant. After selling the trailer, they moved to the old Martin House on Fayette-Neshannock Falls Road (the house was next to where the Amish school house is now located on the same road). Junior Sipe, Melvin’s youngest brother, lived across from them. Their second daughter, Joyce Elaine, was born while they lived in Neshannock Falls.

The family left Neshannock Falls around 1954 and moved to Leesburg Station. They rented a house from Jess Heckathorn. The house is presently still standing and is across the road from the long apartment building. Their youngest son, Randy Lee, was born in 1957 while they lived in Leesburg Station. The kids attended the Grove City School district and the Leesburg Elementary School before moving to their final home on Mill Road (off of Bend Road) in Wilmington Township, Mercer County, in 1962. All of the kids graduated from Wilmington Area Schools.

The Children

Melvin and Lois’ oldest daughter, Marcia Evonne, was born in 1946 and went to school at the Volant Elementary School, then the Grove City Schools and eventually Wilmington Area High School. During High School she sang as part of the Concert Choir and Teenage Choir for Katherine Kuhlman Ministries. The family attended services at Ms. Kuhlman’s church at Stambaugh Auditorium in

Youngstown. Marcia graduated from Wilmington in 1964. She would have liked to go on to college to become a home economics teacher, but because she knew how difficult it would be to pay for her schooling, she changed her focus from the academic course to the commercial course when she moved to Wilmington and hoped to find a good job as a secretary when she finished high school. This she did, finding a job at Westminster College. She eventually moved on to working at Penn Power in downtown New Castle, in the Transmission and Distribution Department as a private secretary.

Marcia was working for Penn Power and living in a small apartment on Mercer Street in New Wilmington when she met Stan Kaufman. She was now attending First United Brethren Church, as was Stan’s family. Marcia sang in the choir with Stan’s sisters Nina and Sally and they spoke to her about their brother, but she did not know him until he called her apartment one night and asked her to go to dinner. They had a short time of dating (only six weeks) before Stan proposed, and were married six months later on April 19, 1975.

Their first child, Andrew Lee, was born in December 1976 and it became apparent that their small apartment in New Wilmington was not big enough to handle a growing family. Marcia quit her job at Penn Power and stayed at home with Andy and the couple made arrangements to move to Fayette. They rented a two bedroom house from Ira Hartzler (Stan’s Uncle). The home stood on the corner of the Old Mercer Road and Fayette-Neshannock Falls Road. Stan, who was working at Wilson’s Excavating and Grading in New Wilmington, began his own saw sharpening shop in the basement of the house.

Leanne Renee, the couple’s first daughter, was born on November 17, 1978, followed only 15 months later by another daughter, Melinda Sue (February 15, 1980). Marcia was a stay-at-home mom and took care of them full-time until Leanne started Kindergarten. A neighbor, Louise George, came in the mornings to get the kids ready for school and to stay with Mindy while Andy and Leanne were at school while Marcia went back to work. She worked briefly for the Borough office in New Wilmington, and then returned to Penn Power. She worked as a switchboard operator at the Clark offices of Penn Power while the children were in elementary school.

Stan’s business grew quickly and the family decided to move just down the street to the home owned by the Shaughessy family. This house had a garage which could be converted into the saw sharpening business, and three bedrooms. It was also a chance to own their own home instead of renting. In 1985 the family moved to their new home, just one house down the road and on the opposite side of the street. They remain there to this day. Andy graduated from Wilmington Area High School in 1995 and went on to work for several local businesses and some traveling jobs setting up equipment in factories. He eventually moved to Tampa, FL and then to Miami before returning home to Fayette. Leanne graduated in 1997 and attended Huntington College in IN for one year before returning to New Wilmington and finishing her degree in Elementary Education from Westminster College in 2000. She moved to Toledo, OH in 2001 and lived there until 2005, when she moved to Taylorsville, NC. She completed her Masters Degree in Elementary Reading and Literacy from Walden University in 2005. Melinda graduated from Wilmington Area High in 1998 and moved to Pittsburgh. She attended school at the Pittsburgh School of Massage Therapy and then worked in the catering department of the UPMC hospital system. She moved to Newark, DE in 2002 and began working on her degree in Plant Sciences/Botany at the University of Delaware. She attends school full-time and works in retail to help put herself through school.

Stan retired from Wilson’s Excavating and Grading in May, 2006. He continues to manage Kaufman Saw Sharpening, as well as to run a side business making and selling wooden artwork made on the lathe. Marcia works at the Human Services Center in New Castle as a Medical Records Clerk. The couple attended First United Brethren Church in New Castle for many years, but presently attends New Life Baptist Church in New Wilmington.

Melvin and Lois’ son Melvin Larry (known to most as Larry), graduated from Wil-

mington High School in 1966 and began to work for Westinghouse. He worked there until he was drafted into the Army on May 13, 1968. He completed Basic

Training and AIT (Advanced Individual Training) at Fort Jackson in South Carolina before he was sent to Viet Nam. He was assigned to the Fourth Infantry

Division and stationed at their base camp at Camp Enari in Viet Nam. Larry was trained to be a Clerk, but when he arrived at Camp Enari they were looking

for a keypuncher and he interviewed and was selected. He worked as a keypuncher at the Machine Processing Unit (MPU). He worked afternoon shift (a twelve hour shift, seven days a week), as well as guard duty on the perimeter of the Camp every third night. He was granted two “R&Rs” during his time in Viet Nam, both time to Taipei. He was there for 14 months and 8 days after an extension of 69 days so that when he was given a leave to go home he could remain at home. He was in the army for 19 months total.

When he returned from the Army his job at Westinghouse remained open for him. He returned to the line that was assembling pole-type transformers. He was laid off later in the year of 1970 and returned in 1971. He also married Rosemarie Alessio at St. Peter’s Church in Slippery Rock in 1971. They had one son, Brain Matthew, on October 4^th, 1975. The young family lived on Old Ash Road in Plaingrove Township. Larry continued to work at Westinghouse, even after being laid off in 1976 and 1977. When his marriage ended in 1982, he lost not only his house, but also the job at Westinghouse. That’s when he began to work at Golf Cart Supply in New Castle and eventually at GE. He began working at GE in 1984 and ran a Sonic tank that cleaned frames for diesel engines. Then he was trained to run a CNC machine making gearboxes for engines and on the assembly line building diesel engines. He was in charge of hanging cylinders, installing turbos, manifolds, set pumps and valves, air manifolds and water piping. He currently works for GE tearing engines down for rebuilding.

Melvin’s son, Brian Sipe, lived with Larry after the divorce. They moved to New Wilmington and lived with Lois and Joyce at the house on Mill Street. Brian lived with his dad until he moved to Florida to live with his mother when he was 12

years old. This was around the same time that Lois sold the house, so Larry bought a house in Stoneboro, PA. Brian currently lives in the Tampa, FL area.

He has one child, a daughter named Meadow Marie.

Melvin and Lois’s second daughter, Joyce Elaine, was born November 8, 1951. She attended elementary school at Leesburg Elementary and at Wilmington Area Jr./Sr. High School. She began working at Liberty Mutual in New Castle after high school and worked there exactly three years before taking a job at Wilmington Area School District. She began her job as Secretary to the Board Secretary on January 2, 1974 and continues working there to this day, although her job description has changed slightly. Joyce lived with her parents on Mill Rd. until Lois sold the house, and then rented a duplex on Village Lane outside of New Wilmington. She remained in this house until the family felt the need for someone to live with Lois and help take care of her. She then bought the

home that they now occupy at 4429 Bethel-New Wilmington Road.

Randy Lee Sipe was born on September 3, 1957. He was born while the family was living in Leesburg Station, but spent most of his school years in the Wilmington school district. He graduated from Wilmington Area High School in 1975 and worked in construction, truck driving and the carpet business. He married Susan Bowersox on May 10, 1982 at the New Wilmington Presbyterian Church. The couple lived for a while at Randy’s apartment behind Bill Hasely’s house on the corner of Rt. 956 and the Old Mercer Road. Then they moved to their present home in Mercer on the Mercer-New Wilmington Road. They had two children, Tyrel Lewis (October 24, 1989) and Angie Lynn (August 29, 1996). The kids attended Mercer Schools.

Randy started his own carpeting and flooring company (Suburban Floor and Tile) and ran it out of the garage at his home, which he turned into a showroom. He ran the business on his own until his wife Susan became very sick. She became ill just before Christmas in 2003 and was admitted to the hospital on Christmas night. Doctors believed that she had Colitis, and then talked about the possibility of Crohn’s Disease. They treated her with steroids, but every time she went off of the steroids the pain would flare back up. They agreed to have surgery to remove the diseased part of her colon. She had the surgery in Pittsburgh and suffered many set-backs in recovery because of the length of time she had been on the steroids. Doctors performed a follow-up surgery two years later to tie off the ends that they had left in case she wanted to have the surgery reversed.

After Susan’s sickness, Randy began laying carpet for Independent Floors, but later found a job in the Reynolds Industrial Park at Woodcraft Inc. making custom cabinets. His family attends church at the New Wilmington Presbyterian Church.

Melvin’s Death

Melvin Sipe became sick in 1978. Marcia remembers that he and Lois had just visited a relative who was dying of cancer (Earl Zook’s daughter, Rose Ann) before learning his own diagnosis of lung cancer. Melvin had smoked since he was 13 years old and he had worked with asbestos during his years at Westinghouse, so that was what the family initially believed was responsible for the cancer. However, they found out when Westinghouse was torn down that the building where Melvin had worked for years was found to be radioactive because of the work they had done for the government during World War II. The family was contacted by another employee at Westinghouse and asked to join a class-action suit against the company on behalf of the employees who developed cancer, but they did not join.

Melvin doctored for his lung at Roswell Hospital in Buffalo, NY. The cancer was in one lung and at least one lymph node. The doctors at Roswell treated him with chemotherapy and drained the fluid that had accumulated in his lung. The last time that he was taken to the hospital he went to the Shenango Valley Hospital in Farrell, PA. Doctors told Lois that the cancer had spread to both of his lungs. He died on September 14, 1979. The death certificate revealed that the cancer was in both of his lungs and that his heart and spine had also been affected. He was laid to rest in Fair Oaks Cemetery in New Wilmington.

Lois Sipe

Lois continued living on Mill Street after Melvin’s death. Joyce remained at home with her, and Larry moved back in with Brian after his divorce. Lois received a small pension from Melvin’s time at Westinghouse, and cleaned houses in the area for extra money. (She worked for Logan Dicks and his mother in New Wilmington for many years). She was close friends with Merle Kauffman, a friend from church who was a widow. Merle and Lois enjoyed going to dinner together or just going for drives. They spoke often on the phone and watched out for each other for many years until Merle died in 1996. She remained in close contact with her cousin, Jane Redmond, after Melvin died. The two women were both widows and renewed their friendship after seeing little of each other for many years. She was also friends with Doris Matheson from New Wilmington and Bernice Snyder from Titusville. She enjoyed playing UNO with the family when they came to visit on Sunday afternoons or on holidays. Lois was always very involved in the lives of her grandchildren. She drove them to appointments, picked them up from school and brought them to the house to spend the night. She enjoyed going for rides in the car and taking the kids to Dairy Queen for an ice cream treat that she called a “nummy.” She was also always ready with a bag of bread to take on a walk to the nearby bridge to help the kids feed the fish.

When upkeep of the house and its big yard became too much, Lois sold the house and moved to New Wilmington. (Larry had bought his house in Stoneboro by this time, and Joyce also moved into the duplex at Village Lane on the edge of New Wilmington). Lois moved first to an apartment on High Street in New Wilmington, and then rented an old farm house from Irla McFarland on Bethel-New Wilmington Road. She missed living in the borough, though, and later moved into a small duplex on Market Street in New Wilmington. She lived alone in this apartment until she was involved in a severe car accident in North Carolina. Lois and her sister Barb had been visiting Barb’s daughter Cindy in Wake Forest, NC when Cindy’s truck was involved in an accident. Lois was sitting in the back seat without a seat belt and was thrown into the front seat and hit the windshield of the vehicle. She was rushed to Wake Forest Medical Center and treated for bleeding of the brain and other injuries. Her wrist and hand was broken in several places and held together by a series of metal pins. Her back was also badly hurt. Marcia flew to North Carolina to bring Lois home once doctors cleared her to fly. It was many months before she was completely recovered physically.

The pain medication that Lois was taking from the accident had the side effect of making her paranoid and sometimes delusional. Lois became fearful of her neighbors in the duplex, but was afraid to tell her children about her fear. She finally decided that she could not stay there any longer, and rented the apartment house at the Rottgaber farm on the corner of Fayette-New Wilmington Road and Rt. 208. The family was surprised that she had done such a thing without any warning, and they began to watch her behavior more closely. While she was now able to drive again and do things for herself, she became fearful at night- now that she lived further out in the country there were

fewer neighbors around to make her feel protected. She called Marcia on many nights and asked whether one of the kids could come stay with her, because she felt better when there was someone else in the house. The family finally decided that it would be best for Lois to live with one of the kids again. Joyce volunteered to give up her apartment and look for a house that the two of them could buy. They found a house on Bethel Road and moved back in together.

Lois lived with Joyce for many years, even after her diagnosis of Alzheimers in 2004. She gave up driving and sold her car to Marcia when she believed that she was becoming unsafe on the road. She was becoming more confused, but her physical health remained fine until she fell in 2005. One afternoon she was walking across the street after getting the mail when she fell in the middle of the road. She managed to get into the house, but she was in a lot of pain after the fall and she seemed more disoriented every day afterwords. She was unable to walk and began talking out of her head and requiring someone to feed her. The family took her to the emergency room and their tests showed that she had had a heart attack. She was admitted to Sharon Regional Hospital ICU and spent several weeks in therapy before she was allowed to go home again. Doctors believed that the pain in her shoulder after the fall had triggered the heart attack. After this point, she remained in a wheelchair most of the time. She would occasionally attempt to walk, but required assistance. The family began to take turns staying at night to make sure that she wouldn’t get out of bed and try to walk, and they put a baby monitor in her room so that Joyce could hear whether she was trying to get up. But because she was disoriented when she would wake up, she would try to get out of the bed and walk to Joyce’s bedroom. On several occasions she fell, even breaking her pelvis in two places after a fall in September of 2006.